Mediterranean migrant deaths in 2016 pass 5,000 – UN

GENEVA: The number of migrants and refugees who have perished while trying to cross the Mediterranean this year has passed 5,000, the UN said Friday after two more deadly shipwrecks.

The latest incidents happened Thursday when an estimated 100 people drowned in the Mediterranean Sea after two rubber dinghies collapsed, the UN refugee agency said, citing reports from the Italian coastguard.

In October, UNHCR declared 2016 the deadliest year ever for migrants trying to reach Europe on the Mediterranean route, when the fatality mark hit 3,800.

Deaths have surged this year because migrant smugglers are increasingly using poor quality vessels while also trying to pack more people on boats, possibly to raise profits, UNHCR has said.

“An average of 14 people have died every day in the Mediterranean Sea during 2016,” UNHCR said in a statement.

The higher death rate has come despite a drop in the number of migrants crossing the sea this year compared to 2015.

Last year, more than a million people reached Europe via the Mediterranean, but crossings this year were below 360,000, the International Organization for Migration said Friday.

Numbers began dropping dramatically following a March deal between Turkey and the European Union to stem the migrant tide towards the Greek islands. AFP

1 Comment

Why is it these MUSLIMS keep on going to Europe why? I don’t see any logic of accepting them by the Europeans and now you see these radicalized Muslims sowing terror in in these places. Muslim countries in the Gulf States must be the one who will accept them because of their profess brotherhood to their fellow Muslims but i see and hear otherwise. Now you Europeans will suffer by allowing them because they cannot assimilate instead impose their will contrary to the host countries customs and traditions